Female Sports Fans

Felisa Rogers, a graduate from Evergreen State College, wrote the essay “How I Learned to Love Football”. Rogers tells about her life growing up not caring for football at all. She states’ “Eventually my incompetence hardened into an intense dislike for playing sports, watching sports, or even hearing about sports” (530). Rogers ended up dating an Atlanta Falcons and was with him for four years. During the whole time she was dating him she never showed any interest in learning about football. When she married her husband she had no idea what she was in for. Rich was a die hard Green Bay Packers fan. Whenever Rich would even start to talk about the Packers though, Felisa would zone out and stop listening. Like all new married couples Felisa and Rich went through a financial rough patch. Felisa noticed then that football was the only thing that could take the stress off of her husband and make him happy. So she started listening and learning the plays. Rogers claims that football is what saved her marriage. She emphasizes, “As an American football fan it’s my prerogative to believe in the worthiness of the Green Bay packers and Packers fans everywhere” (535).

Sara Maratta, a graduate from the University of Cincinnati, found her love for hockey when she was fourteen. In her essay, “Move Over Boys, Make Room for the Crease”, she explains the difficulty she went through as a women hockey fan. Maratta observes, “In the year 2010, women are becoming more accepted into the sports world- not just as fans and players, but also voices in sports journalism” (539). She claims that female athletes get less attention then male athletes and have less fans. Maratta goes on to explain how female tennis players are basically required to look feminine while playing tennis and how cheerleaders get no respect and are not looked at as real athletes. Female journalists are said to not “offer valuable insight and opinions when it comes to reporting sports” (541). Sara Maratta concludes her essay with a very good point, “It shouldn’t matter who is on the rink, track, or field- what should matter is that they are there because the love the sport just as much as I do” (543).

Women can love sports and it can be any sport. I think that these two authors agree that being a women sports fan has its downs but way more ups. Rogers says, “Compared with your average zealous Green Bay Packers fan, I’m an ignorant dilettante” (535). In other words, she is basically a wannabe Packer fan. She will never be a true Green Bay fan because she doesn’t know the game. Rogers says she is learning though which is all you can really ask of any football fan. Maratta emphasizes, “I go to hockey games for the pure enjoyment of them, so why should I be treated any differently than the men in the arena?” (543). I believe that she shouldn’t be treated any differently. In fact there is a great possibility that she knows more about the sport then many of the men in the arena.

In Felisa Rogers’s essay, “How I Learned to Love Football”, she raises the issue that football is a sport that brings people together. Some people may question this argument asking how it really brings people together when you are just watching other people run around after a ball. Others my think that football can’t bring people together because it is an aggressive sport that could then make the fans aggressive towards the opposing team. So why does any of this even matter? Well personally I think arguing that football brings people together is worth it because I know firsthand that it does. My family makes a huge lunch/dinner every Sunday during football seasons and when our team comes on, which just happens to be Green Bay, we sit down and watch the game TOGETHER. Football and most other sports are a great way to give people the chance to bond with one another even when normally these people would never even have anything to talk about. Rogers claims that football saved her marriage and I for one believe that football could really do that.

Sara Maratta raises the very important issue that women are up and coming in sports. In her essay, “Move Over Boys, Make Room for the Crease”, she talks about all the ways that women are underappreciated in the sports world. Some may argue that women are not underappreciated because we have women sports teams. Some may ever suggest that women get to much attention. So why is this issue one of importance that needs to be addressed? The reason why is because no matter which way you look at it, women are and might always be second best in the world of sports. I played sports in high school. Volleyball, basketball, and powder-puff were my life and I could beat most boys when challenged. So when I think about all the women who are professional athletes I question whether they could also beat the men and I believe that they could. Women athletes should be treated with just as much respect as men athletes. They should get just as much attention and just as many fans as men do.

I believe that sports are very important in today’s society and when all is said and done most people would agree with me. You have Felisa who claims football saved her marriage and brought her and her husband closer than ever. You also have Sara Maratta who is battling the odds and is a true women hockey fan. These two women are just two of many examples that women are and will continue to have an interest and very important impact on sports. These two women grew up very differently but in the end both had a love for their sports whether they grew up loving sports or love it because they love someone that loves it. It makes no difference.

Works Cited

Maratta, Sara. “Move Over Boys, Make Room for the Crease.” They Say/I Say. Graff, Birkenstein, Durst. 2^nd Ed. W.W. Norton & Company Inc., 2012. 537-544.